Editorial: Pension information must remain public

Let's make this abundantly clear: Either public employees should be switched to a 401(k)-style retirement plan or taxpayers must have a right to know where their money is going in the existing pension system.

There should be no third way. Yet public pension systems throughout the state have been moving to keep private the details of these arrangements that cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year.

It's outrageous.

A state appeals court in Albany recently ruled that teachers' pensions can be kept private.

This is the latest in a disturbing trend toward less public disclosure of what should be public information, and it must be stopped and then reversed.

Local governments across the state are borrowing $368 million to pay for pension costs this year, an 81 percent increase from 2012, the Journal's Albany Bureau has reported.

That's not surprising. Pension contributions by the state, local governments and schools have increased alarmingly over the past 10 years.

The public has every right to know where, precisely, this money is going. The Empire Center for New York State Policy, a fiscal think tank, sued the state Teachers' Retirement System last year after the agency yanked information from the public's eye about the teachers receiving taxpayer-funded pensions. That decision was made after a state appeals court ruled that a New York City police pension fund was off limits to the public.

Over the years, the Poughkeepsie Journal has been able to ascertain important information from pension databases. This includes informing the public about who collects the largest taxpayer-funded pensions.

Such reporting also has put the spotlight on those who have been able to legally "double dip" by retiring from one government job and getting benefits, only take another public employee position - and collect even more money from the system.

Even some state lawmakers believe that practice should end, but there is no way such a proposal will ever become law if the public has no way of knowing it is going on.

The Empire Center said it would appeal the decision to the state Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. Good.

A more accountable government will never come from more secrecy. If the courts don't clarify this basic tenet of open government, the Legislature surely must.

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Editorial: Pension information must remain public

Let's make this abundantly clear: Either public employees should be switched to a 401(k)-style retirement plan or taxpayers must have a right to know where their money is going in the existing

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